Avatar: The Legend of Shin
by WaterTribeSisters
Summary: It's been three turns since Aang on the Avatar Cycle, and the world isn't how he left it. It is torn, as a disease that threatens not the body, but the soul, sows war and chaos among Fire, Water, Earth and Air. In this world, Shin, the new Avatar, must give everything if he chooses to save it- which may mean destroying Aang's.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is an OC fic. However, characters from ATLA and LOK will be referenced later on.**

**Full summary: **

**Air…**

**Earth…**

**Water…**

**Fire…**

**It's been three turns since Aang on the Avatar Cycle, and the world isn't how he left it. It is torn, as a disease that threatens not the body, but the soul, sows war and chaos among Fire, Water, Earth and Air… a disease that, troubling as it is, may come from the world he lives in now: the Spirit World. Meanwhile, a young boy named Shin is named the new Avatar. In this world where everything has been taken from him, Shin must give everything if he chooses to save it- which may mean destroying Aang's.**

_Daisies. White, red, yellow, sometimes purple daisies, their stalks climbing over each other's leaves, glowing with sun- the bright flowers surrounded a fourteen-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister, similar dark eyes and hair alight with their colors. They were playing a difficult game of Hide and Seek, with the Hider trying to cling to what little shade he could find in the area; his Seeker, trying not to be too good, as their Fire Nation black-and-white coloring stood out starkly in the foliage... Or rather, when that had proven futile, the Hider used it as an excuse to get out of the sun; his sister took to Seeking purple daisies instead early on._

_"... Six... seven... ninety-eight... ninety-nine... aaand one hundred!" Eri counted quickly, not bothering to cover her eyes as she cheated, looking around. "Ready or not, here I come!" She then yelled, standing, but did not make a single move to find her older brother. She just stayed where she was, instead looking for a flash of purple among the dancing daisies. Shin was watching under a tree a ways behind her, as she whispered to her beloved flowers, asking if the rarer Purple family was anywhere to be found and if they could pretty please tell her where..._

_We should go now, he was thinking. It was mid-afternoon, and Shin was positive their parents were getting concerned with their absence- but whenever he got nervous and made to leave, the sight of her laughing with her daisies would make him pause. She'd caress a yellow daisy and he'd relax, assured he'd come up with a good excuse why they'd been gone so long while she played some more... In reality, the good excuses disappeared the longer they stayed out, but no threat of later tanning could make him say it wasn't worth his time (and hide) to make Eri the happiest she's ever been._

_His sister singled out a red daisy, pouting, "why won't your siblings reply to me?" when they proved no help. And because she had her brother wrapped around her little finger, Shin then revealed himself to wrap his hands around the flower, thinking he had just the way to make her feel better. "W- what are you doing?" Eri asked in confusion, but Shin just grinned mischievously at her. "You'll see," He said excitedly, before leaning down to whisper something to the flower himself. She furrowed her eyebrow at his action, curious why he was playing along with them, before gasping when the plant sprouted another flower. It was an elusive purple, and she watched joyfully as both red and purple daisies then intertwined around her fingers..._

_"What did you say to it?" She asked with wonder, unable to tear her gaze away to address her brother._

_"I asked why she wouldn't tell you what you wanted to know," Shin said warmly, pleased at her expression of wonder. "And it said to me..."  
_

* * *

"...RISE AND SHINE, little Avatar! Rise and _SHINgetyourassdownhere_!" A voice crooned in what it might've believed was a soothing melody, but was really a squawk that sent Shin careening unpleasantly back to reality. "Haha- get it? Rise and Shin, get your ass down here?" The voice continued as the now nineteen-year-old raven cringed, looking at the door as it was slammed open. "I'm so funny, not that I want to repeat myself a third time if you don't get it..." His friend, Li, hollered brightly as he burst into view, dyed blonde hair brighter than anything in the broody Avatar's room- and thus making Shin want to burn it into a pile of ashes on his head. He gave the boy a scowl so fierce the boy was lucky he was Shin's best friend, because any other would really have to look forward to a pile of ashes on their head.

"Oh, you're awake!" Li noticed, giving his shirtless form a grimacing once-over. "And yet, you've made no move to get ready for our Council meeting, I see..." When Li proved impervious to Shin's withering glare, the Avatar groaned half-sufferingly at the reminder and half- what Li could only ambiguously translate as a '_fuck you_'. "Thanks, good morning to you to then." He mumbled, later adding a quiet "_sourpuss"_ under his breath.

As the raven then rolled over to burrow his head into his pillow and away from the sight of Li's face, Li busily rummaged through his closet, tsking at the lack of color- before throwing a black shirt and a pair of jeans at the drama queen- "Hmph!" Shin saluted a rude finger at the blonde's general direction.

"Get ready in five minutes," Li only sternly replied to the gesture. "Oh, and we're taking my bike to get to the palace." Shin was up and about the moment he finished speaking.

"Wait- your bike? You're kidding, right?"

* * *

Li was not kidding. As Shin resisted his need to throw up, imagining sicking all over Li's stupid colored hair, he got off the motorcycle on shaky legs.

He threw his helmet at Li, causing him to grunt as he caught it with his chest, and the pale passenger gave the bad driver a look.

"Hey." Li spoke up, clearly sensing the Avatar's anger. "I wasn't that bad, right?"

Shin only sharpened his glare, his piercing onyx eyes giving Li his answer.

Nervously, and still holding up the helmet, Li put his hands up in self-defense. "'Jeez, Shinny. There's no need to act like a dick."

Sighing and refraining from punching Li for the nickname, Shin decided there was just no winning here. He turned away, proceeding to head inside the Fire Lord's quarters, with Li's footsteps soon quickly catching up after his own.

The two ended up entering a small room, with each royal guard they passed by making way for them. At the center of the enclosure was a brunette boy around their age, framed spectacles set over his hazel eyes. A stack of documents were neatly placed on his right, with a smaller pile on his left.

"Yo, Ming!" Li greeted the boy, who was obviously irritated by the sound of his voice.

Ming gently placed his calligraphy brush down, before rounding on them and sternly crossing his arms. "You're late."

He lightly tapped his fingers on his arm continuously, indicating he wanted an answer for the reason of their tardiness. When none of them replied, he fiddled with his glasses and purposely gave out a loud _ahem_.

"Aw man… just you today? Where's Ijen when you need him?" Li pouted, having missed the brunette's silent cue.

Ming's eyebrows furrowed reproachfully at the lack of formality. "The Fire Lord is currently participating in another session. He cannot be acquainted with you today. Anyway, as for why you are here…"

"You are summoned here today," Ming began, "to initiate the project to start the training for Shin's waterbending."

"Objection!" Li banged his hands on the desk, causing Ming's documents to fly off the table in a mess. A look of frustration and disapproval crossed Ming's face before he bent down, muttering several profanities while quickly picking up the papers. He huffed, before sitting down elegantly and asking Li why.

"Pfft… those waterbenders are assholes. Can't say they'd be willing to cooperate with us." Li retorted, slightly irked by the thought. He scratched his head, ruffling his blond hair messily. "Not just assholes, but cowards too. What type of people would just isolate themselves from the world like that?! Jeez… We could have used their help too with their healers and stuff…"

Ming coughed in reply, with Shin having no remark. "And…" the secretary started once again, partially agreeing to the blond's point. "These 'assholes' can help Shin with his training. What's an Avatar that can only bend fire and air?"

"But…" Li stood up quickly, about to counter Ming, but the bespectacled boy continued his ranting further. "The Disease, Mr. Li. It can be a factor in anything."

"I-I knew that!" the blond mumbled, giving in to the secretary's sermon and slumped to his seat. Ming tsked at this, thinking that Li needed to have his memory checked, and decided to give him a review.

"If you remember anything with that small brain of yours, Mr. Li, you would recall that more important than any grudges is stopping the Disease. The Disease that's taken lives from every bender, be it fire or water or air... or earth." A regretful expression overtook the blonde's face, Li suitably cowed at the reminder of the fate befallen on the Earth Kingdom.

Beside him, Shin shifted, and both Ming and Li turned to find Shin staring angrily at the carpet. It wasn't a secret that the Avatar, destined to save the world, hated what was destroying it the most. They quickly moved on from the topic.

Clearing his throat, Ming resumed his lecture.

"Anyway, your mission is to look for a waterbender who can help you with your training. We can provide you transportation, but you two are alone once you reach the North Pole." Ming stated bluntly, showing them a file with the Fire Lord's seal imprinted at the bottom right corner.

"Whoa. Wait just a second…" Li quickly grabbed the document, and crumpling it, much to the secretary's dismay. "I'M part of this?!" the blond shouted, surprised.

"You are the only one available right now to have previously visited the North Pole, and more importantly the first one whom the Avatar trusts." Ming pointed out, clearly showing skepticism at Shin's judgment in the process. Shin only shrugged in reply. "I wouldn't exactly say trust…" He said, his glance moving slowly towards Li with the same skepticism. Li wasn't exactly…disciplined.

"Hehe…yeah…" Li chuckled it off nervously, as the other boys smirked to each other. "Leaving a guy like me with such an important task…What the hell is Ijen thinking?" Ming just walked away from his desk, moving to exit the room. "You leave tomorrow. Dismissed."

The door slammed shut, leaving the pair of friends alone in the room. And little did they understand that tomorrow would be the start of a new adventure, the story of a soon-to-be legend… the Legend of Shin.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are we there yet?"

Shin turned his head to face Li, frowning. "No." He said. His silent facial expression went further to remark that Li was stupid and should shut up, and sullenly, the impatient boy did.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there ye-"

"For your sake, Li, you better shut the hell up."

* * *

Casually, Li remarked how if only they were there yet, they'd be... um... there. Casually, Shin eloquently remarked his own thoughts by punching him.

* * *

"...Are we-"

"Finish that sentence; I dare you."

Li opened his mouth and thought better of it when he started smelling burnt hair.

* * *

They were traversing what Li felt was their hundred thousand millionth hill, when he could no longer contain himself.

"Shiiin," The blonde whined, "please, are we-"

The air suddenly got colder, and Li almost lost his hair to an actual fireball this time, and their journey was blessedly silent the rest of the way.

* * *

It's been weeks, and Li was absolutely sick of ration bars and the smell of the feces of his mongoose dragon and Shin's cheerless air and hills and fire that threatened to destroy his hair and oceans and seasickness and snow and the cold and...

"Shin..." The cautiously innocent seventeen-year-old braved to ask.

"Are we... you know... are we-"

"There yet?" Shin cut in, strangely affable.

Li blinked owlishly for a second, hardly believing his good luck. Then he scrambled to respond, not wanting to waste this opportunity.

"Yeah," He chirped. "I mean, we've been riding for ages now, and it's just I was thinking we should be there by now..." And Shin only spared him a short glance, before reaching the top of the mountain and pausing.

"It seems like you're right for once," He shrugged lightly, when Li reached his level to then gape at the sight of a lighted city twinkling a distance away. An ice-structured metropolis, the likes of which took breath away, and the two took the time to appreciate its beauty for a while.

"HA HA YES!" Li cheered. But as Shin continued riding and started leaving him behind, the excitable boy then realized something.

"Wait," Li frowned, furrowing a brow... "How are we going to approach them? I mean they'll probably attack us on sight or something..." The boy started to pale. "Shin? Shin!"

The air got even colder, even as it was the bloody North Pole, it couldn't possibly get colder- and Li shielded his hair. "We'll just wing it, I guess," Shin replied in as 'duh' a tone his emotionless voice could get. His expression went to further tell Li that he was stupid and he should shut up, and oh, Li just wanted to go home.

* * *

After several minutes of riding stealthily closer to the village, and seemingly not getting any closer... Li's bored and sorrowful and cold self suddenly had an idea.

"Shin, wait! I know of a shortcut!"

This grabbed the Avatar's attention. "A shortcut?" Shin prompted, betraying his own growing eagerness to finish the journey. More warily, though, because _someone_ had to keep their head about themselves- "How exactly do you know a shortcut?" His tone turned wry and suspicious.

Li stilled, and the usually excitable boy seemed to wilt all of a sudden, and he loitered about in answering him. "Like, like Ming said, um..." His voice was still small after he cleared it. "I've been

here before."

Shin gave him an incredulous look for the answer- if it could even be called an answer- but he only got the feeling that Li would never budge on the topic, and then just relented. "You say this only now... why?" Shin grunted, but without real feeling. Still, all the Avatar wanted to do is find refuge from the blizzard and its unforgiving touch, and any shortcut Li knew of had to do. He dropped the matter, and gratefully gestured for his best friend to lead the way.

"I guess I'm not so useless after all." Li then grinned, shaking off his earlier misery and turning to another direction. "Follow me…"

* * *

Finally! Aika was thinking. As she ducked past another servant, barely escaping detection, the young Water tribe princess breathed a sigh of relief... I'm free! She almost dared to laugh, stifling her giggles just long enough to enter a secret tunnel, and almost, _almost_ forgetting to close the entrance behind her in her euphoria.

She tiptoed, careful not to make a sound, treading on the snow in a stealthy manner. She wished that she could escape like this more often- the feeling of freedom from her duties thrilled her. She proceeded walking through the tunnel and when she was sure she was out of earshot, she started humming a happy tune amidst her skipping. "Snow is falling down down, to the very ground ground…"

She abruptly stopped singing once she heard footsteps coming from the other direction. Aika winced. She couldn't hide anywhere in the narrow passage, and her red hair would make her stand out on the spot. What was she to do?

Then the girl realized, slapping her forehead- _who on earth would even know the tunnel?_ It was, perhaps the best-kept secret of the palace, known only to the royals and the guards as part of grim contingency plans, like if there was a coup or something and their servants couldn't be trusted, or...

The steps clattered a little louder, and Aika started panicking. _It's just Cai_, She tried to tell herself_, she's finally wrangled herself out of the governess' watchful eye. Amira would be dutifully listening to the scary old bird, knowing her; but it could be her just coming to check on her too-_

_It could be a ninja intruder or something_, Her mind couldn't help adding inventively. _An assassin, breaking in, with a big sword and a scary frown and a _really_ cute face..._

Wait, what?

Dumbfounded, Aika could only stare as a raven-haired boy suddenly appeared in front of her. Nothing quite as scary as she imagined at all, actually- quite- quite- well, Aika had never seen a boy looking quite like that. Pale and dark-haired and she'd never seen such equally dark eyes either, a gray so dark it looked black...

"Shin, what-" A voice hollered from the corner the mysterious boy had come from, before a strangely familiar blonde appeared to find Aika frozen.

"Ahem..." Li looked like he was going to choke, as he forced a strangled smile onto his face. "Haha... well... this is awkward..."

"L-Li?" Aika gasped, taking a step backward. "Wh-What are you doing here?" It was a shock to her to see the blonde again. It was taboo for any non-water benders to set foot in their land ever since the Disease erupted. Aika turned around, about to run away to warn someone. _Anyone_.

However, she was tackled to the ground before she could make her way back. The raven-haired boy had pinned her on the ground, placing a hand over mouth, muffling her cries for help. "Just shut up." He muttered, and Aika stopped struggling, complying with his demand.

Her eyes then went towards Li, examining his every move. She couldn't say anything, not when her mouth was covered. She just stared at the blond, wondering why he would even be here.

"Aika." A voice echoed through the tunnel, one that made Aika sigh in relief. Li's face suddenly paled as another girl came into view.

"Oh damn it," He cursed under his breath.

Shin raised an eyebrow, turning to him. "Someone you know?" He asked wryly, flickering his gaze intermittently back to the girl below him, Li beside him, and the newest arrival: a brunette with blonde-edged locks, addressing Aika but glaring daggers at Li…

"What the hell are you two doing to my sister?!" the girl shouted. "You perverts!" The brunette ran forward and kicked Shin aside. "Fuck. We weren't doing anything!" The Avatar muttered as he rubbed the side of his body, thinking about how he was going to have one hell of a bruise in that spot tomorrow- great shortcut, Li, the perfect way to sneak in undetected... he grumbled quietly.

Aika quickly stood up, running to her sister's side, trembling slightly. "C-Cai…" The girl went in front of the redhead, fuming and angry. "Aika." She scolded sternly. "You're stronger than this. Did you even fight back?"

"N-No. Sorry." Aika bowed down her head in shame, apologizing. Cai sighed and looked at her. "You're the older sister, aren't you?" To this, Aika remained silent, and Cai stared reproachfully at her, before her gaze moved onto Li.

"Tch." Cai muttered ruefully, her eyes never leaving the blond. "Li… Still a jerk, I see… But I can't go easy on you after seeing what you did to my sister."

"Cai…" He only chuckled forcefully back. "Still as beautiful and delicate as a flower, I see?" Li tried to smoothen the situation, but his words came out in a nervous squeak.

Threateningly, Cai raised a fist, and the poor boy blanched.

"Why am I still surprised to see you getting into random situations like this?" The girl sighed in a 'you think he'd grow up' kind of voice.

Still rubbing his ribs, Shin crossly but also curiously watched the two interact. What was up with Li, and with the crazy violent girl? There was definitely some history there… They hadn't even reached the Water Tribe chief and Li was already bringing vengeful ex-flames into the mix- how typical of him, the raven scowled.

"Well Cai," Li started, mentally panicking over the fact that he didn't really know what to say. "I've matured. This isn't just a random situation. And hey, this isn't what it looks like! We were just in a pickle, involving travel and fireballs and an honest misunderstanding..." He rambled unintelligibly…

Unforgivingly, she just continued glaring at him. As she was about to retort, Cai heard people shouting in the distance. They must be the villagers. Of course, they were missing and the people were probably looking for them, she thought distractedly. Then, it was as if a lightbulb flashed above her head, and a predatory gleam entered her eyes.

She punched Li on his stomach and shouted. "Hey! I found the princess with some perverts over here!"

"Shit…" Li cursed again, from the pain and the fact that they were going to be discovered. "Y-Your punches haven't changed at all, Cai!" Li slumped against the wall, tightly clutching his abdomen. "That really hurt…"

Cai threw her fist back, changing her target from the blond to his friend, to which Shin immediately dodged by sidestepping to the left. _Girls… all crazy and weird and emotional_, Shin thought. _I wonder what Li sees in them._

He hopped back, dodging the fiery girl's attacks more, refusing to counter them with his powers. I shouldn't hurt them. They're just defenseless dumb girls, in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Shin then felt a stinging splash against his skin, water exploding on him, throwing him back. He looked up to see that redhead he pinned down earlier in a fighting stance, preparing a sharp sphere of water. "I-I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"

Disbelief colored Shin's features for a moment, before he recovered and proudly scoffed. "Hurt? Girly, that didn't even-" He took a step towards her, smirking-

BAM!

"Hurt…" Shin's voice came out strangled, threatening to squeak like Li's had. "One… bit…"

He crumpled to the ground, his legs pushed tightly together. Cai stood behind him with a malevolent look in her eye, as she _tsched_ scornfully at the two boys down on the floor around her.

"Boys," She growled in exasperation, rolling her eyes to Aika. "Liars and heartbreakers and weaklings and idiots, the lot of them."

_Oh yeah, definitely some history there_… Shin could only think as Li groaned nearby at her words, before a group of waterbenders appeared from another corner.

"Princess Aika! Princess Cai!" The leader gasped. "Intruders! _Fire Nation_ intruders!" His voice turned serious and angry.

"_Pervert_ intruders too," Cai chirped unhelpfully, and Shin couldn't help groaning with Li this time too.

By Agni, what were they going to do now?

* * *

"If we ever get out of this alive," Shin told Li once they were thrown into a prison cell, "I'm going to kill you myself. Fuck your stupid shortcuts." Li only gave him a look, before sighing, "You'll have to get in line; I think my ex-girlfriend wants to kill me first..."


End file.
